Amber Neely
Apple has begun rolling out new experiences for Apple Maps in select Canadian cities, with unique 3D landmarks and enhanced navigation features.
When iOS 15 launched, Apple announced that Apple Maps would gain a few new features — chiefly, unique 3D landmarks, a new 3D view, and several new updates geared toward pedestrians.
The first cities to receive the enhanced experiences included London, Los Angelas, New York City, and San Francisco Bay Area.
As promised, Apple has begun rolling the new features out to select Canadian cities as of Thursday. The cities include Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal.
The new 3D landmarks include Montreal's Biosphere, Toronto's City Hall, and Vancouver's BC Place Stadium.
In addition to the 3D landmarks, new pedestrians can now take advantage of immersive walking directions and more robust transit maps.
Curated Guides have also been added, allowing users to view more than two thousand expertly curated guides. Guides are sourced from well-known Canadian brands like Toronto Life and Narcity and global sources like Lonely Planet.
And, of course, driving directions received a tune-up as well. Turn lanes, medians, bus and taxi lanes, and crosswalks are now all clearly displayed. In addition, when approaching complex interchanges, Maps will show a road-level view, allowing users to easily see upcoming exits.
The new features are rolling out now to all Apple Maps users on iOS 15, macOS Monterey, and watchOS 8.
Apple rolled out the new experiences to Philadelphia in December 2021.
Marko Zivkovic
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5 Comments
Speaking of iOS 15 features, Apple's Canadian press release says that the iOS 15 feature called Visual Look Up is available in iOS 15, but in fact it's geo-locked to the US only.
https://www.apple.com/ca/newsroom/2021/09/ios-15-is-available-today/
So for over six months Apple has been advertising a feature in Canada on Apple's Canadian website that is not available in Canada. Class action lawsuit, anyone?
It used to be possible in Canada to bypass the geo-restriction simply by changing the iOS "region" to the US, but that isn't working for me now, and I'm not sure why.
Damn, Montreal maps is gorgeous now. Highways have all the proper lane markings. Landmarks beautifully rendered. Amazing. Apple maps has come SUCH a long way and objectively now surpassed Google maps in several capacities. Definitely better in navigation, performance, detail, looks, UI. Google obviously still has an edge in POI and user data, and will for a while, but Apple maps is at a level where I don’t need to touch Google anymore.